More businesses taking advantage of cloud-based applications

More businesses taking advantage of cloud-based applications

More businesses are embracing cloud computing to address a number of IT-related needs. Companies that want to replace aging infrastructure, protect important data and applications and boost employee collaboration can do so by leveraging hosted environments.

Computer Weekly recently reported that industry professionals believe organizations no longer wonder whether or not they should use clouds services, but how to. Juan Carlos Soto, senior vice president and general manager at Informatica, told the news source that the cloud can be broken down into several distinct groups.

“Companies starting from scratch will be cloud-based from the first. Some companies will never move to the cloud. And the rest will be a blend of cloud and on-premise,” Soto told Computer Weekly.

Soto also told the news provider that businesses in the United States and Western Europe are leading the charge to leverage cloud computing, with more projects expected to take place in 2013 and 2014. Firms that neglect the technology during this time will be in the minority.

IT professionals believe cloud computing the next game changer
A recent survey of more than 1,100 IT professionals by CommScope found that many believe cloud computing is a beneficial solution for their companies. Overall, 44 percent said the cloud is a game-changing technology, while 21 percent said their firms run more than half of all mission-critical apps in hosted environments. An additional 52 percent believe their organizations will host at least 50 percent of apps in the cloud by 2017.

As more industry research points to a burgeoning cloud market, security fears appear to be dissipating. Soto told Computer Weekly that security is understandably a concern, but it cannot be the determining deterrent that limits potential innovation.

Brad Peters, CEO of Birst, indicated that security fears regarding the cloud are perhaps overblown. “The cloud is like a bank. Do you put your money under your pillow or in a bank? Most data breaches are internal,” he told Computer Weekly.

Security was often viewed by businesses and industry professionals as a major barrier to the adoption of hosted environments. However, more firms are taking advantage of cloud backup and migrating applications and data to ensure these resources are safe and accessible during natural disasters. If more decision-makers realize that information is safer in the cloud than on-site, the notion that the technology is a risk to data protection may also fade.

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